One of the strangest and longest - lived species of shark has been spotted far beyond its usual haunts . In young research this month , nautical biologists cover having retrieve a sleeper shark in the western Caribbean water system near Belize for the first time . The discovery is the latest to suggest that these oracular tool , typically seen in the Arctic , may be more common and far-flung in the waters of the deep than antecedently thought .
The sighting befall this April by researchers from Florida International University . With the service of local fisherman , they had been trying to tail tiger sharks at Glover ’s Reef , a coral atoll in Belize , when they bewitch something else : a small - eyed , grayish , rough 11 - foot - long fish , pull from the water ’s depths . When the wildcat was take to the Earth’s surface , it was specially slow - moving and quite unlike any fish that the team had come in across before .
“ I have intercourse it was something strange and so did the fisher , who had n’t ever seen anything quite like it in all their immix class of sportfishing , ” said Devanshi Kasana , a PhD prospect at the Florida International University Predator Ecology and Conservation lab , in astatementfrom the university .
A Greenland sharkPhoto: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)
Due to incoming tempest and not wanting to endanger the creature , the group promptly released their stop , though not before documenting it . Upon consultation with other experts , they soon surmise that they had briefly met a sleeper shark . Their findings werepublishedthis month in Marine Biology .
Sleeper sharks are refer for their inert doings . Even in their usual mysterious - body of water setting , they swim slowly and use little energy in hunting or scavenge for food , often catching their prey while they ’re departed . Perhaps the most well - known sleeper shark , the Greenland shark ( Somniosus microcephaly ) , may also be one of the longest - lived animals in the world , with a lifespanthought to extendup to 400 years . Though these shark could in theory snack on a man , their natural environment is far from human activity and no flak have ever been reported . Their body are also unremarkably toxic to us , thanks to the adaptations they ’ve made to subsist in the depth , but Icelandic masses have figured out a way to eat them anyway , andcured Greenland shark fleshis a local finesse . Due to the shark ’s large size , the researchers believe they either capture a Greenland shark or the intercrossed issue of a Greenland and a related species squall Somniosus pacificus .
Though these sharks are typically thought to spend most of their time in the gelid waters of the Arctic , some populations do seem to migrate , and there have been occasional sighting around the tropic in recent years , admit in theCaribbean . This later sighting adds another crease , though , since the squad was much closer to the shore than other team have been when they stumbled upon their tropical sleeper . But because the Rand has water that reach as far down as 9,500 feet , there is a plausible root of cold temperatures useable for these shark to live well . Since we know so little about these shark , they could be much more widely distributed around the world than presently document .
The sleeper shark briefly encountered by the researchers near Belize.Photo: Devanshi Kasana
The team plan to continue studying the deep sea fish of Belize . And though they ’re not necessarily anticipate to spot a sleeper shark again , they will be carry specialized tags from now on to supervise any potential specimens they do encounter , just in case .
AnimalsApex predatorsGreat blanched sharkPredation
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